Eskom

In May 1993 Rural Maintenance (Pty) Ltd (“Rural) successfully secured two initial Eskom maintenance contracts involving the first line maintenance and operations of newly electrified township areas. The scope at the time was extremely limited, having responsibility for the low voltage infrastructure of around 2,000 residential houses. However, the Company’s involvement became a success story of note, resulting in Rural providing full operational services and support functions to 65,000 customers, from the main intake substation (33kV) right up to the meter inside the house. Rural in essence provided Eskom’s complete services to the designated areas in question (even the cash in transit). Service delivery was ensured due to Rural’s policy of appointing and training locally domiciled staff to ensure:

• “Services for the people by the people” leading to
• A truly interactive community type service between user and service provider.

After the 1994 elections, Eskom’s outsourcing drive gradually came to an end with Eskom’s new policy of in-sourcing. Rural’s contracts were terminated in December of 1998, to allow for Eskom’s own internal staff to take over operations. Rural then stood at an important crossroad – contracting or focused utility? Everybody advised that utilities are reserved for the parastatals and governments. Although those views were taken into consideration, Rural was intent on starting its own little utility off the back of experiences gained from the successful delivery of the Eskom services contracts.

The lesson learnt was that if one provides quality, a customer will pay, regardless of whether such customer is an urban or a rural electricity user.